Spartan Dreams
by AwesomeZombieSlayerGRL
Summary: This is a nightmare that Spartan Commander Rachel Auri from my They Have Returned fanfic continues to have after that mission. I just couldn't get the idea out of my head


She finds herself in a familiar dark room in single spot of light. The Spartan glances around the room, squinting into the darkness trying to make sense of her surroundings when several pairs of feet sound off all around her. She looks down at her person and sees that she's wearing her old armor, the suit she wore when she was with Fire Team Ghost. Red and black. She notices that she's not wearing her helmet and runs a hand through her short black hair. The footsteps still surround her and she stands up.  
"Who's there?" she calls out.  
"Commander..." a female voice hisses out of the darkness.  
"I think you know whoooo..." another whispers, a male.  
"No..." she says. "No no no..." She can now make out six outlines circling her little spot of light. She spins around, trying to keep an eye on all of them.  
"No no no no no no no... This can't be happening. This isn't real."  
"How do you know that?" a third female voice asks. "For all you know you could be stuck in a limbo state with no control of your body. Just reliving these memories over and over again. Stuck with watching your body kill everyone you love."  
"No. I know I am alive," she says firmly.  
"You left us all there to die," a fourth male says. She now notices how distorted their voices are. Severely distorted.  
"You... abandoned us...!" a fifth female yells out. "You killed us!" A sudden unnerving roar sounds out, quieting the others and freezing the poor Spartan.  
"Glad... to see you... here... Commander... Or should I say, Rachel...?" It's familiar.  
"Oh god... No..." A figure staggers out to meet her. The face halfway covered in grey-green bulbous material and is extremely deformed but she can still make out who it is.  
"... Drinj..."  
"Surprised you can still recognize me... despite... all this..." The deformed Spartan gestures to his body. Rachel claps a hand over her mouth. She remembers seeing him in the facility but it was only from afar, not this up close.  
"Look at what you did to us, Rachel," he yells at her.  
"I didn't do any of this! None of this is real. You're all dead!"  
"Open your eyes! You left us."  
"You abandoned us."  
"Betrayed us!"  
"I would never do anything like that! You know me!"  
"Do we really?" asks one of the females. Rachel starts backing away towards another hall and runs as fast as she can. She hears the six pairs of feet running right behind her, a quick staccato beat that sounded only of death.  
She takes a few turns down every hallway she reaches until she could hear them no longer. She leans up against the wall and slows her breathing down. She feels herself shaking and runs her hands over her face. She freezes when she hears footsteps dragging nearby. A sniffing noise sounds off nearby.  
"We can smell you," one of her infected teammates hisses.  
"She's... close. Very close," another whispers. "Soon she'll be like us. Then the others. She'll lead us to them."  
_ Screw that_, Auri thinks to herself as she creeps away from the voices. _There's got to be a way out of here. Come on. Come on. Where's the exit?_  
She walks for a few more minutes when another noise freezes her in place. She hears it directly in front of her. A body limps out towards her and into the light. It was Drinj. Despite being infected and diseased looking, she sees the pained expression on his face. He was somehow still there, still conscious but the infection form that controls his body obviously didn't care as it drags him closer to her.  
"Erin. Fight it. You have to fight it," she says to her former teammate as she backs away.  
"I... can't..." she hears him say. The pain in his voice kills her. She keeps backing away when she bumps into something. Strong fibers wrap around her arms, torso and legs. She glances back and sees her teammates, Corcova and Kent, holding her in place.  
"Let go!" she yells as Drinj walks toward her. She struggles in their iron grip, trying to shake loose but they refused to budge.  
"I know you're in there. You have to fight this thing inside you! You can't let it win!"  
Corcova's head turns toward her and the dead eyes catch hers like a bird captured by a snake, she sits paralyzed as her former Lieutenant speaks to her in a contorted voice.  
"She's not there anymore... Commander," it purrs and tightens its grip on her. Rachel turns away and spots her other teammates' outlines behind Drinj. He stops right before her.  
"Let her go," he says.  
"What...?!"  
"Let her go!" The two release their grip on her. She rubs her wrists, eying the two before turning her attention to the one in front of her.  
"You... Why did you...?" she asks as he steps closer. The stench of death emanates from him as he places a hand on her shoulder. Her heart pounds hard against her chest. _I need to get out. I need to leave._.. she thinks but doesn't move. She feels as if she's frozen in place.  
"To give you hope," he whispers and laughs darkly.  
Pain shoots through her abdomen. She gasps and grips the creatures shoulder and arm tightly. Her vision blurs as she looks down. A rotten blade impales her stomach. It twists the blade and she jerks as spasms of pain fly through her. It wrenches the sword out of her and backs away from her grasp. She looks up and sees the shocked and horrified expression that plays across what used to be Drinj's face.  
"No!" a cry shoots out of his mouth as she falls to the ground. A pool of blood forms a puddle around her as her vision fades away. She hears distant crying as she closes her eyes...

She opens her eyes to wet fabric on her face. She lifts her head and looks around her quarters, not sure if she what she's in was reality or not. The pain from the dream hits her and she curls back under the sheets and the tears slip silently down her face as another grim night passes her by.


End file.
